Aldi pledges to plough £3.5bn into UK-made food and drink

The discounter, which currently sources its fresh meat, eggs, milk, butter and cream from British suppliers, has said boosting its range of UK-made grocery products across other categories will create opportunities for hundreds of food and drink producers.

The retailer, which plans to invest £500m across new and upgraded stores as well as its supply chain next year, creating 4,000 new jobs, said these dual investments will drive the business’ performance in 2021.

Aldi UK boss Giles Hurley said: “We are expecting significant sales growth in 2021 as we open new stores and bring Aldi to more locations across the UK. With the vast majority of our grocery products now coming from British suppliers, our growth will lead to additional jobs and investment in our UK supply chain.”

Aldi has also pledged to extend its immediate payment terms to smaller suppliers until the end of next year, a move it said will benefit more than 1,000 businesses across its supply chain.

Richard Benjamin, co-owner of the Manchester Drinks Company, which is one of the UK suppliers Aldi currently works with, said: “Our new contract with Aldi is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our flavoured gins and liqueurs to shoppers across the country, and will help to provide stability for our business in an uncertain climate.”